274 
The Garden Magazine, June, 1923 
ous. Cupolans Filetens this last year showed the effects of iron either 
in the soil or water, turning almost blue, but I am hoping the effects 
will not be permanent. With such a wide range of colors, from white 
to red, these hybrids should prove very popular.— Leila B. Stapleton, 
Oroville, Cal. 
—There is some reason to suspect that lime is a factor in improving 
the blue color in flowers. How do your plants stand in relation to lime 
in the soil?—E d. 
Another Good Apple 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine 
O MR. MATTERN’S list on page 317 of February GardeR 
Magazine, I would like to add the Porinate which, in mv estima¬ 
tion, has no equal as a late summer and early fall Apple. In southern 
Ontario, when the prematurely ripe fruits begin to fall in late July the 
trees promptly become the Mecca for all the small boys of the neighbor¬ 
hood, mainly because they may be eaten with impunity and without 
salt, whereas Early Harvest and Red Astrachan which ripen about the 
same time are scarcely edible even with salt and cannot be eaten with 
impunity. Porinate continues to ripen—if allowed—until early Octo¬ 
ber, but usually it is not allowed because it is too good. The latter part 
of its season overlaps that of Chenango Strawberry, but every home 
orchard should have both. The flavor is a mild subacid; the size just 
right for a second specimen—an ideal dessert fruit.—D. J. Hughes, 
Ontario. 
An Echo from “The Tired Business Man” 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
T WAS my great pleasure to read a remarkably interesting article in 
your January number entitled “A Tired Business Man’s Garden,” 
by William Tinkham. And I wish to take off my hat to him. The 
trouble with most of the articles I read in your admirable magazine is, 
they shoot over my head—I mean by that, that they deal with the 
large estate requiring great capital, while I am a lowly traveling sales¬ 
man with a small country place, small surplus capital, and am not able 
financially to have a place of the magnitude so many of your articles 
describe. I, however, love the country life, beautiful gardens, and 
artistic surroundings, and the article by Mr. Tinkham opened a new 
line of thought and activity to me. I intend to make a serious effort 
to put into practice—this coming summer—the garden plan he sug¬ 
gests. Thank you for printing and giving to us this splendid article, 
and will you kindly extend to Mr. Tinkham, wherever he may be, my 
thanks and appreciation?— Charles L. Baker, New York. 
Hydrangeas That Play the Chameleon 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
N THE February number, K. K. K.’s note and the Editor’s reply 
interested me because 1 have had a curious experience with Hydran¬ 
geas. Years ago 1 brought some very handsome Hydrangeas from 
our old home to our present garden. We had had them many years 
before they came to be established in their new quarters, and they 
had bloomed prolifically year after year a most beautiful shade of soft 
pink. In the garden on the south side of the house, they did not seem 
happy, and although they bloomed, it was sparsely and as if against 
their better judgment, so they were moved to the other side of the 
house, with a north exposure, and lo!a miracle. The first summer found 
them a wonderful shade of blue and in that color they have continued 
to bloom for a number of years. I often plan to move one plant to 
another place to see if they are really pink or have undergone a radical 
change.—S. T. H., New York. 
An Attractive Shrub for the Southern Garden 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
YRICA caroliniana should be widely used within its range of 
hardihood; Washington and Baltimore to Roanoke, Va., might 
safely be considered its reasonable northern range, but from these points 
south and east of the Appalachian Mountains, with an unknown west¬ 
ern spread, its usefulness should be widely taken advantage of. No 
shrub of evergreen or even deciduous character will compare in shade 
bearing quality. From Salisbury, Md., on the peninsula it forms a 
perfect evergreen undergrowth under the Pine forests, making vigorous 
dense shrubs to a height of eight feet, and quite as happy and even of 
denser growth in the open. 
No plant will give a better screen with as little expense, and it is 
perfectly feasible to move the clumps of every size with balls of earth 
so that immediate effect can be produced. The flower effect is incon¬ 
spicuous and the greyish fruit effect is not of as ornamental a character 
as is the fruit of the Candleberry (Mvrica cerifera), but its evergreen 
character and fragrant foliage are of decided landscape value, 
and this persistant foliage effect is an admirable background to show 
other flowers off to the best advantage. It naturally grows even under 
briny conditions. 
No native plant is more abundant in the costal plain regions of the 
Southern Atlantic Coast and yet it is not listed by any retail nursery¬ 
man to-day. When landscape gardeners with a Southern clientage 
commence to realize the possibilities of this plant, its widespread use will 
compel the nurserymen to have an available stock/— J. Woodward 
Manning, Southern Pines, N. C. 
“The Sensation of My Neighborhood” 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
ARLY in May the sensation of my neighborhood is a splendid spec¬ 
imen of Double-flowering Plum (Prunus triloba) securely and 
permanently established on its own roots. A great, spreading plant 
ten feet high and still larger across whose many graceful branches are 
thickly set with rosettes in delicate pink. This fountain-like mass of 
bloom containing many hundreds is indeed strangely in contrast with 
the sickly, straggly plants of Flowering Plum usually placed on the 
market. Double-flowering Plum on own roots may be secured by 
layering or deep planting of plants propagated on Peach. A still more 
refined and charming thing is the single form of Flowering Plum, but 
it is as yet rather scarce and plants are not easy to obtain.—W. E. 
Bontrager, Oherlin College, Ohio. 
As One Neighbor to Another: Bulbs and Quarantine 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
T DOES seem as if the Open Column grew more helpful and interest¬ 
ing every month. Its only fault is that it is never long enough. 
After reading the March number, I am strongly impressed with the 
fact that when a communication to the Open Column has received a 
direct response (i. e., sent to the writer, and not to the Open Column, 
as it should be) this information is rarely passed on, perhaps because 
the writers do not realize that these communications interest a great 
many readers and that those who are not able to answer the questions 
themselves might be extremely interested to hear how they were an¬ 
swered. As I am myself to blame in this matter I feel less hesitation 
in making this protest. 
Last year I wrote two communications to the May number after 
what I supposed was an exhaustive search, so exhaustive and so un¬ 
fruitful that I thought it would be of interest to other gardeners to 
know the results. One of these communications was in response to 
another G. M. communication about raising bulbs from seed, the 
other was in regard to hardy Clove Pinks for which I had been searching 
for ten years without the slightest success. The results of these letters 
are interesting. No reply whatever was made to the question 1 asked 
about the seeds of bulbous plants, but from all over the country letters,, 
seeds, bulbs, and plants began to arrive, until I now gratefully acknowl¬ 
edge the receipt of several varieties of hardy Pinks and some bulbs of 
Muscari and Scilla and quite a lot of Scilla seed. It may be of some 
interest, even with the prospect of getting an ample supply next fall, 
that 1 did not get any trace of Snowdrops, which rather surprised me 
after I found how the other bulbs had increased in many gardens, be¬ 
cause Snowdrops are said to increase very freely in England. Do they 
not do as well in this country? I think this question could be usefully- 
answered through the columns of the magaizne, and would help to^ 
determine the size of bulb orders next fall, as no one who has ever had. 
them would wish to be without them. Personally 1 should much pre¬ 
fer a ban on Tulips, Daffodils, and Hyacinths than on these early spring; 
bulbs. If there is a greater thrill in the gardening year than the first 
Snowdrop in late February after the long cold winter, I have not found 
it yet. My supply of Snowdrops dwindled to a single flower, yet that 
one was well worth while—it was priceless. [Snowdrops are like 
Scillas and so are others of these “lesser” bulbs that do not increase 
after the manner of Tulips and Daffodils by free multiplication of the 
bulb. They must needs be raised from seed therefore, which should: 
be sown, if possible, as soon as ripe.— Ed.] 
1 am particularly sorry that 1 made no acknowledgment that might 
have been of help to other readers, since 1 have read in the March num¬ 
ber of someone who has tried to find an Eastern dealer who sold Mus¬ 
cari and Scilla, and I discovered several as a result of my letters; and. 
